


Defining Moments

by Tea (graychalk)



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-30
Updated: 2006-04-30
Packaged: 2017-11-01 15:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/358547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graychalk/pseuds/Tea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somehow, Temari had become a defining presence in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defining Moments

He never had to turn around to know it was her. Not because barely anyone ever visited him here, but because he had become familiar with the fall of her footsteps against the grass as she approached him and carefully placed her fan on the ground.  
  
He never had to open his eyes to know that she had settled down next to him and leaned back on the grass as she so often did. She had a certain way of positioning herself next to him that forced him to feel her presence. He felt it in the way her elbows barely touched his, close enough to sense the heat of her skin but far enough to make him notice the minimal gap between them.  
  
He never greeted her but then she had never greeted him either. If there was to be a conversation between them, it often started somewhere in the middle rather than from a cursory hello.  
  
Sometimes he would already be sleeping when she came, but she never tried to wake him. Other times, he fell asleep while she was there, and when he woke up, she wouldn't be there. But most of the time, he could feel her by his side even before he had fully regained his consciousness. And he would catch her studying the clouds up above as his eyes slowly cracked open. The image sometimes left such a strong imprint in his mind that he found himself imagining she was next to him every time he woke up, even when she wasn't. Moments like those, he thought, were particularly defining. It made him notice with more clarity, the pressing ache in his chest that lingered long after she had gone.  
  
Shikamaru had never asked her why she came by, and she had never offered the information. But somewhere along the way, he had stopped wondering. It didn't really matter why she was there. It only mattered that she was.

  



End file.
